France stay unbeaten and head to main round with four points

Austria gave it their all against dominant France, relying on seven-again-six play to stay in the contest, but, France proved too strong and secured a 35:27 win. The reigning European champions are going to the main round as group winners and all four points that are vital for the quarter-finals, while Austria are joining them with two.

GROUP C
France vs Austria 35:27 (19:15)

Austria were giving their best against the France, trying to match the needed level with the-already traditional seven-against-six attack. However, the strategy did not go as planned, as mistakes piled up and France punished them with fast break goals, often to an empty net. By the 17th minute, France had built a six-goal lead and forced head coach Aleš Pajovič to call for a time-out.

Even in tough moments, Sebastian Frimmel proved why he is one of Austria’s key players and stepped up with Austria’s first goal after five minutes, helping the team to narrow the gap to five goals, 8:13, as Austria stayed within reach.

Without a left-handed right back, it was a real challenge for Austria to play against France and the attack looked out of sync in certain moments, but Elias Kolfer was the fulcrum of the attack, dictating the team’s tempo with several assists. Their efforts were rewarded as the French lead melted to just three goals at one point. Therefore, we soon saw Charles Bolzinger between the posts, making his debut in the competition.

Montpellier’s goalkeeper came in instead of Samir Bellahcene who suffered a thigh injury, but they were not alone in injury problems after matches of the second round — Austria’s right back Boris Živković is also out due to a shoulder injury. As a consequence, Austria had Lukas Johannes Schweighofer and Valentin Kieffer joining in Poreč.

Bolzinger did help his team, especially at the start of the second half, preventing Austria from coming closer than two goals, 19:17, and stopping seven of Austria’s attacks total at 32% save efficiency.

However, France could not dominate as in their previous two games at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, with Austria keeping the contest close with more and more players earning their minutes on the court.

However, the strength of France came to the spotlight in the last ten minutes of the match, as they kept the energy fresh with their rotation forcing Austria once again to play seven-on-six, but it all led to new mistakes or interceptions, providing France with easy goals and a seven-goal lead, 31:24, at the end of the match.

Dika Mem and Thibaud Briet led France to their third straight win at the World Championship with six goals each. Tobias Wagner, Elias Kofler and Nemanja Belos netted four times, joining at the top with Sebastian Frimmel who netted five. Guillaume Gille’s team are going to the main round from the first spot in the group with a maximum of four points. Austria is joining them with two points.

hummel Player of the Match: Dika Mem (France)